To Love a Were Ch. 09

Aramis ignored him completely, "Put her on the phone,"

"What? I didn't know I need your approval to do anything Father."

Aramis gave a low growl and frowned, "I will personally come and break your neck if you don't put my granddaughter on the phone right now. Put her on NOW!"

"Chill old man. God you're such an insufferable ancient artefact!" he rolled his eyes and passed his phone to Fiona. "It's for you."

Fiona took the phone gingerly and placed it at her ears, "Yes?"

"My child... where are you?" he asked with a gentle voice.

"I... I don't really know Grandfather... but something's wrong with me... and I'm scared."

"What did that son of a bitch... I mean Alaron do to you?" he asked angrily.

"Grandfather!" she exclaimed. "He didn't do anything! In fact if it wasn't for him, I would have killed everyone at the wedding!"

"Pass the phone to him," he instructed. When Alaron's annoyed voice came on the line, he exploded, "Bring her back to me right now you fool or I'm disinheriting you. She needs to feed and you're endangering not just yourself but also her."

Alaron didn't answer his father but simply disconnected the call. Fiona looked at him with curiosity.

"What did he say?"

"He said to treat you well and make sure you get fed. Now come on," he said, grabbing her by her arm. "There's something I want to show you."

They had been inside a building that looked like a medical facility to her, only that it was much bigger and was eleven stories high. He led her through some security doors and finally pass a glass door into a lab.

"Draven and I have been working on the blood tablets that we've told you about. We had to run through many batches to perfect it but this here is the first batch that has successfully passed all the testing so far."

"Oh no..." she said, backing away towards the door. "I'm not some guinea pig!"

"It's compacted with blood type 'O' so it's user-friendly for all blood types and it's fortified with iron, zinc and an enzyme inhibitor x."

"What is that?"

"Well, I'll only tell you after you eat it," he said with a smile. "Don't worry... you're not gonna die. I won't let you. You know I love you too much to do that to you."

She eyed him warily. Did he really think she was this naïve? She narrowed her eyes at him and glared at him with as much ferocity as she could muster.

"Stop that!" he said suddenly. Fiona blinked in surprise when she saw him massaging his temples in annoyance. "Fine fine... I'll eat it first. If I die, it's all your fault."

She continued glaring at him and watched in amazement as he simply put down the pill that he was about to put in his mouth. Fiona blinked again and saw the flash of annoyance on his face as he picked up the pill again. Curious now, more than anything, she focused once again on him with the sole thought of wanting him to put the pill down... and he did.

"Stop it! God damn it. That was annoying Fi. Where the hell did you learn that?"

"I... I don't know! I just did it coz I was angry at you."

"Fine. The bloody enzyme inhibitor x is a compound that serves dual purposes. One one hand, it stimulates our natural abilities... like for example, it will make me ten times more smarter." When she gave him a dubious look he rolled his eyes at her. "Cerebral monitors proved it. I solved a thousand different mathematical problems in under an hour. Now usually I will take at least a week."

"So for argument sake, that's true... then what's its second purpose?"

"We haven't found much proof to support the second theory yet... but it behaves in a similar way to contraceptives. Cool huh. Now you can eat it and not have weird Vampire-Wolf babies."

"I hate you."

"I know."

However, Fiona accepted the pill that Alaron offered her. She looked at it and gave a long sigh.

"And this would make mating or whatever it is possible?"

"Maybe. It inhibits any foreign gene and I suppose venom too, from being catalyzed in your body. So it can work against the bite but so far we have not had any tests done on that yet. So I see you've volunteered to be our first test subject."

She gave him a sideward glance before swallowing down the pill.

The sudden burst inside her head hurt; it felt like a thousand needles were pushing through her brain. When the pain calmed, she felt a sense of satisfaction; her appetite was satiated but she wanted something else... like sex.

She lifted her eyes to stare at Alaron in shock. She could see that he was smiling.

"I'm right here if you want me," he said, leaning back in his chair. Fiona scowled at him. She was really trying to stop herself from moving towards him. It was then that she remembered that her power of suggestion would have been enhanced so she tried it on herself.

"I can wait until I'm home with Eian. This feeling can stop. This feeling can stop. This feeling can stop." When that didn't work, she tried another suggestion. "I am sexually satiated. I am sexually satiated..." She felt herself drawing a deep breath; her eyes fixed upon Alaron with utmost contempt and distrust.

The next moment, he was picking up a scalpel and placing it at his neck. His eyes were looking at her fearfully but she didn't stop. She saw the thin blade slowly grazing upon his skin; blood was trickling down his neck.

Fiona blinked and tried to shake herself out of her increasing lack of self control. She heard the sound of metal hitting the floor and saw Alaron taking in deep breaths to calm himself down. Fiona could see the cut healing slowly. Turning around she knelt down and told herself to relax. This unleashing of her vampiric abilities also increased her capacity for anger. She hated it.

"My god, Fiona..." said Alaron in a hoarse voice.

"Shut up or I'll have you severe your own head for real," she warned, trying to steady herself on her feet before turning to look at him. "Stay away from me..."

Then she backed away towards the door and tried to find a way out of the building.

***

She wasn't sure where she was at the moment. It was still dark but she could see the first rays of sunlight at the far end of the street. She was cold and still feeling slightly dizzy but she managed to walk down a few blocks, albeit aimlessly.

"That idiot must have been lying when he said it was a contraceptive or whatever," she scowled to herself. She didn't think he would have stooped so low to get her to sleep with him. Asshole!

Fiona really didn't like staying angry but it was the only way, at the moment, for her to maintain the suggestion that she was satiated. She was afraid that once she relaxed and let down her guard, she might actually attack someone; a human. Shivering slightly, she continued walking until she found an alley that was relatively quiet and secluded. There were many recyclers, dumpsters and various amounts of trash littered everywhere but she couldn't care less.

She managed to squeeze herself between two large dumpsters and slid down to the ground, curling herself tight.

"I'll be fine..." she told herself as her fingers shakily reached for her cellphone in her pocket. She switched it on and was instantly bombarded with messages and missed calls from various people, including her grandfather, Eian and Alaron. Reading some of the messages, she knew she was in trouble.

She dialled Eian's number and waited for the call to connect... but to her horror, there was no response, except a flat tone on the other end of the line. She tried again and still she couldn't get through. Fiona began to panic.

"Oh my god... wait... think, think! There's a code... international code maybe?" Fiona eyed her phone curiously and wondered if her power of suggestion could hoodwink the electrical device. "Right... I'm talking to an inanimate object now. I must be desperate."

When she failed to get through once again, Fiona decided to forget it and just get some rest. She pulled her knees closer to her body and tried to make herself as hidden as possible. With a sad sigh, she closed her eyes and fell into slumber, mumbling softly, "Eian... help me..."

***

Almost 3000 miles away, Eian was pacing his living room. It was almost noon and Aramis hadn't called. Eian was tired. He hadn't rest as advised but had scoured the woods in the compound to look for her the whole morning. Just an hour ago, he had set up a search team of his best trackers to sniff her out.

He knew that his body was about to crash in awhile so he simply leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor, feeling the fatigue creeping in.

A sudden knock on the door jerked him awake. He rushed to the door only to find that it was Amber.

"I just came to check on you... you need rest or I'm going to force anaesthetics into your body," she said, stepping inside to take a better look at him. "You look like shit. It was a good thing that Pearl sent me to check in on you. She's taking care of the cleaning at the moment and she hasn't told Dominic or Sydney about any of this. They're going to fly off for their honeymoon soon..."

"No, don't tell them. I don't want them to worry," he said as he sat on his sofa and leaned back in exhaustion. He wanted to think of more to say to Amber at the moment but his mind was too tired to think.

He heard her moving about in his kitchen and a while later, she placed a glass of water and a sandwich in front of him.

"Eat. This is doctor's orders. I saw you standing the whole night without consuming a single thing and then went out with the search party early this morning on an empty stomach. So eat or I'll shove it down your throat."

Eian looked up at Amber weakly and nodded. He was too tired to argue. He took a bite out of the sandwich and heard the slight grumble of his stomach, indicating that he was hungry after all. When he drained the last drop of water in the glass, Eian felt slightly better although his head still throbbed from lack of sleep.

As he got to his feet to head upstairs to his room, he persuaded Amber to the door. "I need some sleep, yes I get it. Meet me back here in three hours."

"You need at least six hours..."

"Three. I'll see you then," he said, cutting her off and literally pushing her out of the door.

***

Three hours later, Eian felt slightly more alert. He took a cold shower to refresh himself before heading down to his living room. As he expected, Amber had already let herself in but she wasn't alone; Big Mike was there too. When he saw Eian coming down the stairs, he got to his feet immediately.

"Alpha, please let me come with you."

"No. You have young pups to take care of. I want you to stay here and take care of the pack in my absence. Dominic is on his way to the airport and so that leaves you as the next in charge."

"But Alpha... My tracking skills are exceptional and I would be a better candidate..." he paused, looking up and down at Amber, "... to accompany and protect you."

Eian gave a smile and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder to calm him. "I need you to protect this pack; protect our homes, our young and our family. This is not an order Mike... but a request," he said. Mike blinked a few times and nodded. Eian smiled and then turned to look at Amber.

"Have sufficient on-site medical supplies and emergency equipment ready in an hour. I want you to anticipate the least and the worst case scenarios and then pack accordingly. We leave in an hour."

***

It had taken Alaron a very long time to shake himself off Fiona's hold on him. He couldn't sense her at all and each time he had a hint of her presence, he would get a mind-splitting headache and hear her voice telling him to stay away from her.

Nevertheless he continued looking for her; calling her cellphone every few minutes or so. In fact, in the last hour, he had rejected almost ten calls, mostly from his father and from Eian. He didn't want to give them the chance to find Fiona before he did.

It was close to noon when he finally found her. He understood the moment he saw her why he was no longer under her power; she was fast asleep. Alaron crinkled his nose slightly as he stepped closer to pick her up. The smell of the decomposing trash was unbearable.

As he carried her away from the dumpsters to his car, he felt her stirring. Looking down, he saw that her eyes fluttered slightly before she looked up at him. Her lips were curving as though she was smiling but her eyes did not seem to show any happiness. She looked... sad. Even as she leaned her head on his chest, Alaron couldn't help but feel slightly guilty.

"We'll go home... you need a bath," he said as he lowered her onto the passenger seat. Fiona simply nodded and gave him the same sad smile. "God, you're killing me Fi. Don't look at me like that!"

The strangeness of the city seemed secondary to her even as she stared out the window. All she wanted was just to be alone. She wasn't sure if she was safe enough to return home but at the same time, she didn't want to be with Alaron. It was only her love for him that made her sit still in the car.

"Fi... don't just keep quiet... please," he begged.

"I could suggest you to crash the car," she said softly but Alaron heard it and flicked his eyes towards her for a second. "But I won't."

"I'm sorry... about everything. I... I know I'm selfish and a real jerk. Truthfully, you have every right to tell me what to do... even if it is to go kill myself."

"You don't listen to anyone but yourself... you even believe you deserve the right to end your life on your own terms. I don't think so."

Alaron was surprised at the calm yet vicious tone of her voice. He had never heard her speak to anyone like that. Alaron didn't dare to say anything. Apart from Draven, no one else in the Culzean family ever displayed such dominant abilities before.

When he reached the gates of Draven's house, he was not surprised to see that it was already open and his brother was standing at the front door waiting for them, with a grim expression on his face. The moment the car stopped, Draven opened the passenger seat door and carried Fiona out by himself; ignoring his brother.

He continued walking through the hallway and into a quiet little room. He didn't say a word for he could hear everything that she wanted to say to him even though she was silent.

"I need you to take a warm bath right now and then lie down. There are some shirts and pants inside the cupboard. They might be too big for you but they'll do for now. Can you do that for me?"

Fiona nodded then looked up at him with pleading eyes. Draven felt his heart sink.

"Yes... I will teach you how to control your powers. But for now... bathe and rest."

When he left her and walked to the sitting room, it took all of his patience not to smash his brother's face into the wall.

"I don't want to hear it," he said, putting his hand up to silence Alaron's excuses. Alaron kept quiet. It was pointless to try and persuade his brother to reason with him for Draven had honed his skill to the point where he could select when and how much information he wanted to read from a person's mind.

"Father doesn't know that she's here does he?"

"No."

"I thought so," sighed Draven, pacing slowly before turning to face his brother, "I do not need to explain the magnitude of your actions for clearly it is a waste of my breath. However, I will say that bringing her here to me is the only right thing that you did in the past 24hours."

Draven gave Alaron the look of absolute displeasure. "I had no idea she had so much latent power. It was best that they had remained dormant for she's still a youngling and not equipped with the experience or patience to control it. Until she learns to control these powers, she cannot be around humans... or Werewolves for that matter. Just one suggestion from her could kill an entire pack, town or worst... country."

"No! You can't keep her here like a lab rat!"

"I didn't choose this for her. Once again, you've made her life a living hell Alaron. I'm surprised that she still has the kindness to spare your life. But her mate might not."

"They cannot mate! That's just impossible!" said Alaron defiantly.

"Yes they can... even if it means they have to die to do so. That is their choice, brother... not yours," replied Draven patiently.

"I will NOT let her die!" Alaron spat angrily. "Fuck this. Just do your thing and leave me alone to do what I want!"

Draven looked at his brother intently for a moment then burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry brother... but I cannot do that. You are to stay here. Who else can she practice the extent of her control if we don't have a volunteer? You are as weak as the next human being so you'll be a more accurate gauge of her control. I am far too ancient for her powers to work effectively."

Alaron stood up in shock. "What? No! That's just rubbish. You're trying to get back at me aren't you?"

Draven shrugged. "You can leave but she will make you stay- willingly or not."

Alaron turned to look at his brother; realization of the truth sinking in. He loved her too much and she needed to learn how to control her powers. He would stay out of his love for her... but if he chose to go, she would force him to stay against his will because she needed him. He didn't think she was the vindictive sort but the onset of her powers might change things.

"Ah yes... I'm afraid she's not going to be the sweet, demure little child that we used to know. Oh and yes, it will hurt. It will hurt so bloody bad that you'd wish you were never born," said Draven nonchalantly as he walked out of the room. "Just be thankful that you're really good at healing"

***

The next day, Fiona woke up to a splitting headache and almost fell off the bed in her attempt to get up. When she finally steadied herself, Fiona opened her eyes carefully and walked to the bathroom.

"Oh god I feel sick..." she managed to say before throwing up in the toilet bowl. Looking down she saw that it was covered in blood. "Gross," she said, wiping her mouth. That was probably the last meal... or pill rather that she took. Now, she was just ravenous.

She went to the sink to wash her hands and then splashed water on her face before looking in the mirror.

Then she screamed.

Both Draven and Alaron were beside her in a second; staring at her with concerned looks on their faces.

"Just look at that!" she said pointing to the mirror. The two men looked but didn't get what they were supposed to see. "I said look!" she screamed and this time, the two men felt their eyes unwillingly forced to see what she wanted them to see.

They were staring at a reflection of her... except that it did not look like her at all. The woman in the reflection had dark brown hair and looked older and insanely beautiful as Vampires tend to be in their immortal glory.

"I... I think you look beautiful... more beautiful than anything I've seen," said Alaron, daring himself to speak.

Fiona turned sharply to look at him and frowned. "That... is not me. Get out... get out!" she screamed before passing out; falling to the floor.

"I am going to need to sedate her. Alaron... please call father and tell him where the both of you are. If you play this right, you might not be blamed for anything. I'm not saying you're not to blame... but right now, it is more important that we try and help her. Go... now."

Alaron simply nodded and ran out of the room while Draven carried Fiona onto the bed. He didn't think it was possible for an awakened Vampire to be... well, awakened again but right before him was evidence that it was possible. Draven left her for a while and when he came back, he injected some sedatives into her blood stream to keep her asleep for awhile more.

As he sat beside her, he thought about how it was possible for her powers to awaken at such a young age. Throughout history, it was rare enough for Vampires to have abilities. Although it was concentrated amongst the Purebloods, it still took them almost a century to actually realise their potential and then another century or so to perfect it.